The present invention concerns a system and method for sorting articles having electronic information stored thereon, especially for reuse, and particularly electronic animal identification tags that are used to track animals in feedlots and packing plants, such that the tags can be returned to their original destinations for reuse.
The cattle industry comprises two major components, producers and feedlots. Cattle producers raise cattle on pasture grazing land, much of which is unsuitable for cultivation. After the cattle reach a certain size, the producers send the cattle to a feedlot. A feedlot is a place where cattle are specially fed and cared for to promote further growth and improve their condition and characteristics before shipment to a packing plant for slaughter. Feedlots generally care for thousands of head of cattle or other animals in various stages of growth. These animals come from a variety of producers with widely varying previous care and feed performance history.
Cattle in feedlots are typically sorted by various criteria, such as ownership, lot number, or date of arrival. Some feedlots recently have tried sorting by other criteria, such as size, growth performance history, etc. The cattle are kept in cattle pens, with each pen typically including a feed bunk to receive feed, a water source for drinking, and usually manually operated gates to enable the animals to enter and exit the pens and in some cases be resorted. Feedlots generally also include a hospital area where individual cattle that are ill or otherwise in need of treatment can be moved to and treated before being returned to their pens. For a description of an automated feedlot sorting and electronic cattle management system that has recently been introduced in a few feedlots, see applicant""s co-pending application Ser. No. 08/332,563, filed Oct. 31, 1994, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Producers have various charges assessed to them for the care and maintenance of their animals at feedlots. These charges are typically assessed by lot number at periodic intervals based on feedlot care and maintenance records. Examples of charges include feed ration charges, health care charges, growth-promotion product charges and handling charges. Assessment of changes by lot number is at best an inexact science, giving only an average approximation of the cost of feeding and caring for each animal in the lot.
To track these charges and ensure that each producer is charged the proper amount, each animal is assigned a disposable identification tag having a unique identification number that is visibly displayed on the outside of the tag to identify the lot number of the animal and/or an animal number. The identification tag is clipped to the ear of the animal by the producer prior to shipment to the feedlot, or by the feedlot when the animal arrives. In either case, the unique identification number may be entered into a database maintained at the feedlot. The database also may store the various charges associated with maintaining the lot of cattle and correlate the charges to the appropriate identification numbers and, as a result, to the proper producers.
Typically, when a lot of animals has reached its estimated optimum growth and value, or a predetermined shipping date arrives, the feedlot ships the lot of cattle (with the disposable identification tags still attached to the animals) to a packing plant for slaughter and packing. Packing plants are generally under different ownership than feedlots and maintain their own databases or other records for tracking the cattle by lot or ownership, or feedlot within the packing plant. After the cattle are slaughtered, each carcass is mounted on a trolley hook and the identification tags are removed and discarded. After processing the carcasses, the packing plant reports carcass data including grading, cost and market value data, to the feedlot.
Recently, a few feedlots and producers have begun using electronic identification tags, rather than disposable tags. The electronic tags allow for easier and more accurate tracking of the animals through the care and growth process at a feedlot. Additionally, the electronic tags may potentially allow the packing plant to match carcass data and feedlot live animal data on an individual animal basis for large numbers of animals originating from many different feedlots. Unfortunately, such electronic identification tags are expensive (e.g., approximately $8.00 apiece). In order to make the electronic identification tags commercially feasible by reducing their effective cost, the feedlots and producers must have their electronic tags returned to them from the packing plant for reuse, rather than having the packing plant discard the tags.
Unfortunately, some problems arise when the packing plants return the tags. For example, the packing plants may return identification tags to feedlots by keeping a count of how many head of cattle were received from a feedlot and then returning to the feedlot an equal number of tags. But, in such a case, the packing plant may commingle tags from multiple feedlots and redistribute the tags arbitrarily.
Feedlots and producers, however, want their original tags returned. The electronic identification tags cost approximately $8 apiece, and a typical feedlot or producer invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in tags. Like any electronic component, the tags have a limited life span, particularly because of the harsh treatment animal identification tags are subjected to. Consequently, feedlots and producers want tags collected at the packing plant to be sorted and returned to their original source. This way, feedlots and producers can protect their investment in the tags and ensure that they do not receive another feedlot""s tags, which may be old, mistreated or otherwise damaged.
Currently, the only way to ensure that electronic tags are returned by the packing plant to the proper feedlot is to manually sort the tags. This requires manually reading a tag and cross-referencing the tag""s unique identification number with the originating feedlot, which is burdensome, expensive and slow. As a result, the packing plants do not manually sort, and therefore, feedlots and producers are reluctant to use electronic tags. Thus, as a practical matter, currently carcass data and live animal data cannot be correlated and used to make producer and feedlot production and management decisions.
Approximately 12 million head of cattle are quartered at feedlots throughout the United States. Manually sorting 12 million tags a year would take not only an enormous amount of effort but would also be so labor-intensive and therefore expensive for the packing plant as to be unacceptable. Accordingly, there is a need for an automated system and method for processing, sorting, and recycling electronic tags for reuse by their original users.
The present invention provides a recycling system and method enabling automatic sorting and recycling of articles having electronic information stored thereon, particularly electronic animal identification tags. The sorting system can have several modes of operation. For example, in one mode, the sorting system and method can be used to sort articles based upon ownership. In the invention, an xe2x80x9cownerxe2x80x9d can be the legal owner of a tag, an entity to whom the tag is leased, or any other entity controlling, possessing or using the tag, as is clear from the particular context. If the articles are electronic animal identification tags, the tags can be sorted based on which producers or feedlots own the tags. Thus, using the sorting system and method of the present invention, a feedlot or producer is ensured that their originally purchased tags are returned to them for reuse.
In a second mode of operation, the sorting system and method can count articles. For example, the sorting system can count electronic animal identification tags to ensure that a proper number of tags are received from a tag manufacturer and that the tags are not defective.
In one aspect of the invention, a plurality of misaligned and unsorted identification tags are passed through a tag aligner that aligns the tags in series. The aligned but unsorted tags are received by a tag sorter. A plurality of sorting bins are positioned adjacent the sorter for receiving tags sorted by the sorter and for storing the sorted tags. A tag reader reads the identification information from the identification tags and passes identification information stored on the tags to a controller. The controller analyzes the identification information and determines in which sorting bin a tag should be stored. When the tag is adjacent the proper sorting bin, the controller signals the sorter to eject the tag into the bin.
In another aspect of the invention, the controller includes a database that has a number field and an owner field. The number field corresponds to numbers read from the identification tags. The owner field may be used to correlate a given number in the number field to an owner in the owner field. Accordingly, using the database, each identification tag may be associated with an owner of the tag, and the tags may be sorted based upon ownership.
The tag aligner may include a vibratory bowl having an outlet chute. The outlet chute has a width approximately the size of one tag so that the tags can be aligned in series.
The sorter may be a rotating circular carousel with tag receptors positioned along the periphery of the carousel. The tag receptors are sized to receive a single tag from the outlet chute of the tag aligner. As the carousel rotates, the tag receptors align with the surrounding stationary sorting bins. The controller tracks the location of the tags on the carousel and sends a signal to the carousel to eject a tag into a corresponding sorting bin when the tag is positioned adjacent to the proper bin.
A sorting system according to the invention has been tested to sort at a rate of up to 40,000 tags per day, which is a substantial improvement over manual sorting and enables recycling of original tags to multiple cattle feeders, which heretofore has not been possible. A single operator can run the sorting system by assigning owners to sorting bins so that tags belonging to a particular owner are ejected into the proper bins. The operator can also set limits on the number of tags that are dispensed into a given sorting bin. In such a case, the controller signals the operator through a visual or auditory alarm that the sorting bin is full. The operator can then unload the bin into a plastic bag for shipping to the owner. In the event a particular owner owns a large number of tags, several bins can be assigned to that owner.
An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a recycling system, including an automatic sorting system and method for efficiently sorting tags so that the tags may be returned to their originating feedlots and producers and recycled for use on other animals, thereby enabling the practical matching of live animal data and carcass data for individual animals originating from different feedlots.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.